


13.02 Friendship's Place

by Kirabaros



Series: The BAU Family One Shots- Season 13 [3]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-17 03:48:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16508837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirabaros/pseuds/Kirabaros
Summary: The team coming home after the case in Naples and Mike invites them to his home for a family dinner. Reid realizes he can move past what happened to him. Tag to To a Better Place.





	13.02 Friendship's Place

_There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship._ – Thomas Aquinas

“Unca Spence!”

Spencer Reid was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard his name and turned to see a whirlwind of ribbons and soft brown curls come running towards him. He smiled big and kneeled just in time to be grabbed around the neck and nearly tackled by the whirlwind. Wrapping his arms around the little girl, he stood up and hugged her. “Hey Rory.”

“Ima said you and Auntie Gen were coming n JJ, Emmie…”

Reid smiled at the little girl as she pronounced all the members of the team as best as she could and feeling proud about it. He had been convinced that his practically older brother’s daughter, Aurora, was going to be a smart one. Brilliant, even though he knew that intelligence wasn’t conclusive to be inherited. He looked at the little girl and replied, “Yeah. Your dad invited us over to dinner.”

“Uh huh. Henry and Mike are here n the Simmonses.”

Reid wanted to laugh at the way the little girl lumped Simmons’ kids all together. It had been sort of spontaneous and sort of not that Michael invited the whole team and their families to his house for a family dinner. The way he announced it left no room for doubt that everyone was coming or Michael would be forced to bring them in since no one was brave enough to say no to Sarai. Except for maybe Michael but then again he was the craziest of the team.

Reid walked around holding Aurora until she asked to be put down. She ended up tugging him by the hand saying, “Come on Unca Spence. Show you sumthin.”

Reid looked at Genevieve who was chatting with JJ and Will. Rossi was commandeered into the kitchen by Sarai and the other team members were chatting. They weren’t going to miss him for long so he indulged. He ended up being joined by Henry and allowed both of them to drag him into the courtyard garden in the back of the house. They were greeted by excited barks.

Reid hesitated at the adult German Shepherd that trotted up to both kids and started licking and soliciting for pats. He wasn’t afraid of dogs but he just wasn’t really a dog person. He liked his cats. Actually, they grew on him and he found that he liked their personalities. The dog looked up at him, panting and then sat down as if to encourage that it wasn’t a threat.

“This is Zeke,” Aurora beamed happily as she hugged the dog. She beckoned Henry over to pet him and he obliged. She looked at Reid with a curious expression, “You wanna pet him?”

Reid didn’t really want to but he didn’t want to disappoint Aurora either. He reached out and held his hand towards the dog and was rewarded with a paw shake. It was over quickly as Aurora took off with Henry and calling out to Zeke to play. Reid called out, “Rory, I don’t think…”

“It’s okay, Spence.”

Reid turned to see that he was joined by Michael. The man was looking very much like a college professor with the blazer covering the form fitting shirt he was wearing. “I don’t want to get in trouble with Sarai.”

Michael gave a slight smile, “It won’t matter. Rory loves Zeke and that dog will follow her everywhere.” He saw Reid’s look and added, “He’s good with kids.”

“Good trainer?”

“Should be. He’s retired from active duty on the local PD K9 unit,” Michael said with a shrug. “Sarai and Rory wanted a dog and I said that it would be trained, no questions. Just didn’t expect a cop.” He grinned at that like it was a joke. He watched the kids play with a toy that was used for working dogs to play with and sighed. “So… how does it feel to be back?”

“I’m just glad I can be,” Reid replied honestly. He raised his brow and asked, “Did you know about the stipulation?”

“Most of what Ems knows I know,” Michael offered. “I just don’t make a fuss of it and let it be. Besides, I meant what I said in Naples.” He looked at Reid with a pointed look.

“I know. You’ve never lied to me or anything like that.” Reid has looked down at his feet as he replied to that. “You’ve always been there one way or another. Even when you were overseas. Just checking in with me.”

“It bothered me that I felt helpless when you were in jail,” Michael admitted. He put his hands in his pants pockets, imitating the posture Reid sometimes took. “Knowing that you were innocent despite what the evidence said… I felt horrible that I couldn’t do for you what you did for me.”

“Are you kidding me? You helped in more ways than one. You helped us catch the ones responsible,” Reid protested. “And you helped catch Scratch.”

Michael pursed his lips at Reid and glanced at him. He didn’t say anything at first. He didn’t have to since he had spoken of it enough to Reid. They had similar thoughts and feelings about what had happened and the choices made. He didn’t regret much and he suspected that Alvez knew more than what he reported about Scratch, but he wasn’t going to dwell on it. He learned a long time ago that bad things did happen but where it counted was how well you picked yourself up and moved forward. It was the hardest to learn from his and Sarai’s shared trauma.

“I know it will still be there and I can’t change what happened to me but… I think some things came out for the better,” Reid admitted. He looked at his friend as he looked at the kids playing.

“They usually do when you have a good thing going, little brother.”

Reid couldn’t help but smile at that. He would have said something but Simmons came out followed by his boys. They saw the dog and they took off to join Henry and Aurora. He chuckled and said, “Looks like you might get into trouble after all, Mike.”

Michael chuckled at that and looked at Simmons before giving a pat to the shoulder, “Just had to bring the rugrats didn’t you?”

“You said bring everybody,” Simmons pointed out with a grin.

“So I did,” Michael admitted. He raised his arms in an ‘oh well’ gesture. “Well, not my fault with your kids.”

“Like you can say no to any of them.”

“I maintain order, thank you very much.” Michael grinned at Simmons as they shared a joke brought on by their experiences working with IRT. “I did teach them a little order.”

Simmons couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Fine. By the way, there is a dispute in the kitchen. Something about choice of wine or something.” He frowned a little, not sure what it was about, “Some order could be used.”

Michael gave a slight roll of his eyes. He sighed almost dramatically and looked at Reid, “I guess I have to go and play referee.” He took his leave and left Simmons with Reid to watch the kids. He passed by Alvez and gave a slight smile and said, “Duty calls. Keep an eye on the kids.”

“Yeah and you’ll know about it even though you’re not here,” Alvez replied with a chuckle as he patted Michael on the arm as they passed each other. “More of your physics magic.”

“That’s Spence’s thing,” Michael countered before heading inside.

Alvez shook his head and grinned as he joined Simmons and Reid. Simmons was trying to wrangle his boys but it was difficult since Henry and Aurora were encouraging them to play. He stood by Reid and watched as Simmons was roped into a game of tag with the kids and Zeke. He crossed his arms over his chest and joked, “Does Mike always make you a babysitter?”

Reid made a slight smile as he turned to watch Aurora and admitted, “I like watching Rory. Henry looks after her when they play together.” He glanced at Alvez and said, “I was there when she was born. Mike was on deployment.”

“And now you’ll get see yours,” Alvez replied with a gentle pat to the back of Reid’s shoulder.

“Yeah.” Reid kept quiet about the statistics regarding miscarriage and carrying to term. Besides that was private and only a few people knew about it and two were good at keeping secrets. “And Gen is…” He made a slight face.

Alvez studied him and grinned, “Don’t drag me into that conversation. I think your buddy Mike is better equipped or Simmons.”

“Mike knows less than I do but he manages all right.” Reid turned to watch Aurora as she called to Zeke. The dog bounded towards her like she was going to charge at her. He would have said something but the dog bolted to a stop and then sat panting. He watched as the girl said he was a good boy and patted the dog.

“You really okay, Reid?”

Reid shifted to look at Alvez. He knew people were going to keep asking him that question for some time. While it could be annoying, he saw the reasoning behind it. Genevieve was the one that reasonable about the whole thing and Michael just carried on like he usually did. Everyone else… it was all part of being friends and family. Apart from Michael, Alvez was the one that rooted him to the ground when he suffered the symptoms of PTSS. He understood what he felt. Looking at Alvez and replied, “Doing better. Some days are rough but… working through it.”

“It’s all anyone can do,” Alvez replied knowingly. “Baby steps right?”

“Yeah.” Reid nodded in acknowledgement. Alvez was right about that. Reid had foolishly once hurt his brother’s feelings by disregarding that but… it was like what he had learned. And that was the experiences may be different in the details but the emotions and thoughts were the same. It’s what made people able to relate. “That I’m working on.”

“Work in progress.”

“Ah that’s Gen’s expertise,” Reid countered, “She’s the artist.”

“Who, I’ve heard, has done photography work around the world and most recently the photo and painting spread titles ‘Heroes from all Sides.’,” Alvez pointed out. “Garcia showed me the painting she did for the team a couple years ago.”

Reid was used to people pointing out Genevieve’s paintings. He had seen a few of them at art galleries and a museum art exhibit. Her photography work was what had people especially her spreads from when she travelled the world. He was proud of her and always had something to say to compliment her. “The one hanging in the main hall right?”

“Yeah. Really good work.”

“It’s what she does. She… chases dreams as she calls it.” He looked at Alvez and added, “She looks for the good thing and paints it. After seeing what she has seen, I don’t blame her. And the fact she’s been with me for as long as she has, knowing what I do, been through…”

“Seems like someone knows exactly what you’ve gone through,” Alvez pointed out, “A person who cares and loves you.”

“I know. It’s why, along with everyone else, I can feel like things are normal.” Reid put his hands in his pants pockets. He gave a slight smile at Alvez. “Friends and family.”

Alvez gave a slight smile and nodded, “Yeah.”

They shared a look of understanding before Michael came back with JJ in tow to announce that dinner was ready. Reid was ready for Aurora when she came running towards him. He picked her up as Henry came to walk beside him and he was followed by Simmons and his boys. Together they went into the house to the dining room where Sarai and Rossi were waiting with a good spread on the table and both looking like they agreed to disagree on whatever it was they were fighting over.

Reid smiled as he was joined by Genevieve and he hugged Aurora as she hugged him. He looked at his friends and family as they took their seats at the table with Michael at the head. He put his goddaughter down in the seat next to him and helped Genevieve into hers before taking his. He looked down the table and couldn’t help but smile at the fact that everyone was there. He turned his attention to Michael who was saying, “Now I hope you don’t mind but I would like to say the blessing before we get started.”

Reid couldn’t help but smile. Never without fail did his best friend and brother forget to say a prayer. It was one of those things that had him baffled since he didn’t really believe in it but he respected his friend and it was obvious the team did and they joined hands. As Michael thanked God that all of their friends and family could be together, Reid felt contentment. It was as was discussed on the plane. His experiences made him who he was and gave him avenues to further choices. He could move forward on this with his friends and family.

 _Man maintains his balance, poise, and sense of security only as he is moving forward._ – Maxwell Maltz


End file.
